Ex-pressed metal 1M rear fenders

[Jbam9]

Some of you may have seen it on another thread, so I wanted to hop on a dedicated post and show some pictures now that I've got both sides tacked in place.

I bought the ex-pressed steel panels for the e82, and it seems like I'm the first one to actually get them attached to the car using more than just tape. Overall fitment is pretty great. The edge radii could be tighter, but I can't complain too much- nothing that can't be fixed. They arrived in bare steel, so I stripped them of the mill scale and got a couple layers of epoxy primer on them before starting anything.

I'll be updating this thread as the progress continues, so stick around if this interests you


Cut in the body. I also cut out the outer half of the wheel well, and plan to make a new one with sheet steel. I had a bolt-on wide body before and did the strips thing, but I didn't want to go as far as welding in new quarter panel skin and leave that junk in there. I first cut very conservatively, and slowly sanded it back with a flap disc until the fender fit with about a 1/16" gap all around. Once I had the main shape cut it took another hour or two per side just to do this


Driver side mounted. I did this one first to get the hang of it all, since I knew the other side with the gas flap cutout would be harder. Those of you who have widebodied before may notice I didn't use clecos or self tappers- I used butt-weld clamps and v-pads from harbor freight instead. That way I have no holes to fill afterwards. Definitely the harder way to do it though. The old-school way you sometimes see Porsche guys do it ("skin-over welding") would not work here IMO due to inner space constraints and the construction of the 'frame rail' area. The hole has to be cut before hand, but you could and probably should leave tabs for mounting and just use clecos.


Passenger side mounted. This side was surprisingly difficult compared to the driver side due to the gas flap cutout. Nevertheless, I got it mounted up just fine and the gas flap cover lines up nicely. Here you can notice the pretty much only issue with these flares- the flap bend is lined up, but the lower bend that mates to the bumper is short and has a larger bend radius than it should. It's hard to tell from this angle, but the gas flap recessed area is also bent closer to 85degrees instead of 90, but again these are nitpicks. Any reproduction panels are going to need some adjustment, and this was the only place I found real adjustment to be needed


OEM fender liner thrown in there. Fitment is mint and it really adds that factory-level look already. On the driver side, the car is missing 2 threaded studs and also one that comes from the fender itself. The passenger side is only missing one stud near the gas filler area and the one on the fender. The one on the fender, and gas filler areas seem unneeded, as the liner sits in there quite secure without any hardware at all.


Alternate view of the fender liner. This pic shows the clearance between the edge of the fender and the liner- plenty of room to roll the fenders as needed (which will very likely need to be done). You can also see the hole in the liner against the fender for the aforementioned and unneeded threaded stud.

Overall impressions of the fenders after initial mounting are quite good. I couldn't be happier with my choice to do the full metal flares, and thanks to our friends in the UK, it's now possible to do on an affordable budget. BMW can charge $16K for the OEM panels all day, because I got these delivered for less than 900 bucks.

Anyways stick around to see the progress and how the project progresses- I have no professional bodywork or welding experience and am using tools you can get locally, so if I can do it, so can you!

[Ziggy]

What size wheels and offset are you planning on running in the rear?
Do you know what this flare adds in the additional tire clearance?

[Jbam9]

Originally Posted by Ziggy

What size wheels and offset are you planning on running in the rear?
Do you know what this flare adds in the additional tire clearance?

Honestly I forgot the offset but they're 19 x 9.5. Surely you can fit 10's on there too- I haven't done much research on 1M wheel fitment yet. The flares are supposed to be identical to the 1M, so I believe it's almost 30mm on each side of extra clearance.

[ShocknAwe]

That looks really well done to my untrained eye. Do you have body work experience?

Im really tempted to bring a set in soon. Need to finalize plans with my shop. Glad to see you used the flare and not the whole panel replacement and that it's working well for you.

What are you plans for the inner flare? I sourced the M3 inner flare from Germany. I really want it done properly.

I can help with the wheels as I've been in planning phase for this FOREVER.
the nonM E82 has a wider rear hub. This pushes the wheels outboard by 10-12mm or so. Given this if you don't use the Narrow Hub from the 330i or a full E9x M3 rear end (requires a custom prop shaft) you'll have to go with a 10mm higher offset than the 1M could otherwise fit.

What does this look like? Well, glad you asked. On my front end I'm currently running 18x9.5et22 with a 275 tire. With the narrow hub/real1M rear you can handily run 18x10.5et22-25 with a 295 or 305 tire. with a nonM rear hub you'll need around ET35 and tire sidewall could cause issues.

So why not do the narrow hub? The dilemma is between buying custom wheels or having a tricky brake setup. The rotors that fit the 135i brembos are the 330i Euro Performance rotors, which may limit things later on. I'm still working on this trying to find a Zimmermann rotor that fits the narrow hub and the F82 rear brakes.

Or we may just do 10mm wider rear flares than 1M to fit the wide nonM E82 hubs properly and I'll convert to a Stoptech or AP Racing BBK... But that's a third (and possibly best) custom solution.

-A

[Jbam9]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

That looks really well done to my untrained eye. Do you have body work experience?

Im really tempted to bring a set in soon. Need to finalize plans with my shop. Glad to see you used the flare and not the whole panel replacement and that it's working well for you.

What are you plans for the inner flare? I sourced the M3 inner flare from Germany. I really want it done properly.

I can help with the wheels as I've been in planning phase for this FOREVER.
the nonM E82 has a wider rear hub. This pushes the wheels outboard by 10-12mm or so. Given this if you don't use the Narrow Hub from the 330i or a full E9x M3 rear end (requires a custom prop shaft) you'll have to go with a 10mm higher offset than the 1M could otherwise fit.

What does this look like? Well, glad you asked. On my front end I'm currently running 18x9.5et22 with a 275 tire. With the narrow hub/real1M rear you can handily run 18x10.5et22-25 with a 295 or 305 tire. with a nonM rear hub you'll need around ET35 and tire sidewall could cause issues.

So why not do the narrow hub? The dilemma is between buying custom wheels or having a tricky brake setup. The rotors that fit the 135i brembos are the 330i Euro Performance rotors, which may limit things later on. I'm still working on this trying to find a Zimmermann rotor that fits the narrow hub and the F82 rear brakes.

Or we may just do 10mm wider rear flares than 1M to fit the wide nonM E82 hubs properly and I'll convert to a Stoptech or AP Racing BBK... But that's a third (and possibly best) custom solution.

-A

I've done bodywork a handful of times in the past before, but only minor stuff- mostly little dents and dings, but I also relocated my third brake light and filled the hole in the trunk lid. There's a thread on here somewhere about it

My plans for the inner flare are to make a custom wheel well with sheet metal. I plan on mocking it up with cardboard, transferring the design to pre-primed sheet metal and mounting it up. Still have to decide if I want to fully weld it in or lap joint and bond it like the factory does. I'm going to bond it to the flares but still undecided regarding how it attach to the actual structure of the car

I had no idea about the wheel hubs honestly, so I appreciate the info. I ran a bolt on wide body before this so I know my current wheels will very likely fit for the meantime at least. I'm planning on LS swapping this car sometime in the future, so I'll definitely look into the narrow hubs- I'll need the 305 in the rear lol

[Jbam9]

Did a final test fit before fully welding the fenders in. Fitment is looking great with the OEM 1M bumper and side skirts


Closer view of the mounting points. The side skirts and bumper aren't fully attached but they still line up great


Next I got both sides welded up. I started on the driver side, being very slow and meticulous, planishing each tack as I went until it finally came together as a full seam. Used a light from the backside to check for pinholes


Then the passenger side, which went much much faster. I found that instead of doing tacks one at a time, I could do batches of 3, each spaced out a few inches, and then planish the full batch. I got the main seam finished tonight and just have the rear part left. I wanted to try and work that rear radius before fully welding that area, but it was too late by the time I got around to it tonight and my neighbors have a baby I don't want to wake up


Tomorrow I'll finish welding in this flare, then prime and seal as much as I can from the backside. The outer seam surface will also receive a quick coat of spray can primer for now just to keep it protected while I build the wheel wells- proper bodywork will come after the car is fully 'sealed' again. I'm in Florida, so it will start to rust within a day or two if I don't get it immediately primed

[Burnout]

Amazing progress, and fantastic news on fitment and the techniques you’re sharing!!

Also bonus points for being a considerate neighbour!

[ShocknAwe]

Well change of plans. I'm definitely buying a set of these tomorrow.

Not using the body shop I had lined up, so I'll have the carbon fiber flares for sale shortly. Shop I've been referred to will love these.

[ShocknAwe]

Sent a quote request to them just now!

[Jbam9]

Today I went through 8 Dewalt batteries grinding the welds on both sides. Then I went through with a light on the backside to find pinholes- marked, tacked shut, grinded, and repeated until the panels were fully sealed again.



I also did the work on the radius before finishing the weld and doing the grinding. I was able to get it pretty close but not perfect- I was never expecting perfect and am honestly really happy with the adjustments I was able to make. The fender now mates up with the OEM quarter on the passenger side decently- a skim coat of filler and you won't even notice



Tomorrow the plan is to scuff the backside of the seam and prep everything for epoxy primer. I'm sure I have some minor surface rust since it's been a few says, so I'll also pick up some Ospho and use it in the hard to reach areas inside the wheel well area before priming. Once the primer is down, I plan on adding a layer of 3M seam sealer just to ensure it's all sealed up on the backside. Then we build the wheel wells

[ArtFoodBMW]

Jbam9, just wanted to hop on here and say thank you for documenting this so well. I found your youtube videos just the other day and now this thread last night. I'm realizing just how feasible this project will be now and look forward to the updates.

Thankfully I have a 2002 that needs a lot of rust repair and a custom transmission tunnel, that should prepare me for welding this much sheet metal.

[Jbam9]

Originally Posted by ArtFoodBMW

Jbam9, just wanted to hop on here and say thank you for documenting this so well. I found your youtube videos just the other day and now this thread last night. I'm realizing just how feasible this project will be now and look forward to the updates.

Thankfully I have a 2002 that needs a lot of rust repair and a custom transmission tunnel, that should prepare me for welding this much sheet metal.

No problem! I'm trying to be as detailed as possible without slowing my progress too much since I know a lot of you guys are interested in these panels as well and nobody else has documented this yet. I'm working on long form videos right now that will cover everything in greater detail as well. Part 1 will be fender installation, part 2 will be custom wheel well build, part 3 will be body work and painting.

I like your style btw, the 2002 is such a beautiful car

[Jbam9]

Cleaned up the backsides of the seams, got everything ready for epoxy, and then noticed this area in the rear end.



This is present on both sides, but I have a suspicion that this was caused by my previous wide body- to me it appears to be grinding dust that never got removed, which itself rusted along with the surrounding area. It's a seam so I could be wrong, but that's what it looks like to me. I am unable to remove what is left by mechanical means due to space constraints, so I picked up some ospho on the way to work today and will be using that to convert the rust. Everywhere else looks great and I saw no other rust spots. Small delay, but I'd rather take an extra day and do this properly rather than redoing everything in a few years because I didn't take care of visible rust. I'll post another update tonight once the seams are finally primed and sealed

[ShocknAwe]

Ugh I hate rust spreads like a parasite and kills things we love. Convert it and cover it up!

[Jbam9]

The ospho did a great job at converting the rust. Once I cleaned it all off I brushed on a healthy coat of epoxy primer



And finally back to sealing the main seams. I ended up using a brush for that as well since it's much more controlled than spraying. Got 2 coats on, then brushed on a layer of seam sealer



Another view of sealed seam



And I ended up having some extra epoxy so I figured I might as well cover the bare metal on the outside until I get around to the bodywork



Tomorrow I start building the wheel wells. Should be as simple as making a cardboard template, transferring to sheet metal and then getting it in the car. Hopefully I have enough seam sealer...

[ShocknAwe]

What did you do for the inner fender reinforcement? Did you extend it?

[Jbam9]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

What did you do for the inner fender reinforcement? Did you extend it?

Yep, that's the plan for today after work. I pre-primed some 20 GA sheet steel and plan on extending the existing wheel arch with it. The missing section is pretty close to a 6x36" rectangle, so it shouldn't be too hard to get together.

This is also the point where I'll be welding in a couple threaded studs for the arch liner trim. Hopefully I can find the right size for the OEM nuts

Edit: the OEM threaded studs seem to be a custom size. Something like a slightly oversized #10-16. A #10 sheet metal screw threads on properly but is still loose. I ended up buying #12 sheet metal screws- the larger diameter of the #12 should ensure a tight fit compared to the #10 screw

Edit to the edit: After looking at the locations the studs need to be added, It is highly likely that proper sealing on the backside will not be possible. With that being said, I ended up finding M5 and M6 steel rivet studs by astro tools on Amazon, and will be using those with new nuts. Hopefully I can find some plastic nuts to match the OEM's, 16131176747 seem to fit M5 threads so maybe I'll use those

[Jbam9]

So the wheel wells were a bit more challenging than I was anticipating, but I finally got them tacked in.

I started by rolling the lip on the fenders first. I found a tool specifically for this, called a "Astro Pneumatic DS1000 Pneumatic Door Skinning Tool". AUTOBODYTECH shows how it's used in this youtube video, and it's how I learned the tool even exists. There are also great techniques shown in this video that are related to this job:

It's $200 on Amazon, so I tried my luck with a body hammer and a fender roller. I ended up getting the lip rolled to a nice radius, but yes I did also stretch out the fenders a bit. So both ways are viable depending on the desired outcome. I left a few inches on the bottom un-rolled to match what the factory did in the front. This leftover flange should also help hold the bottom corner of the fender liner in place



Next I cleaned up the cutout in the body- squared the corners, removed extra material (scribed in above picture), removed seam sealer, and prepped with weld-thru primer. I then made templates of the patches with cardboard, before transferring the design to epoxy-primed sheet steel. I used self tapping screws to secure in place so I could tack it in a few spots



You can also notice I had to do a separate piece at the bottom- this was simply because the sheet metal I bought was 36" long, and the hole ended up being closer to 39". It was still not very easy to make a piece to mate up with all sides cleanly, and I almost think that having that separate bottom piece made fitment a bit easier.



Here's a view of the backside as well. So cool to finally see everything mounted up- and even cooler that it's fully metal. I'm blown away with how this is coming out so far.

Next I plan to add stitch welds all over, remove all the screws and plug weld each hole, clean everything up, prime it, bedliner it, and finally put the wheels back on and drop the car. Hoping to drive the car in to work on Monday, so I should have another update before then if everything goes well

[Jbam9]

Finished up welding all around, got a couple layers of epoxy primer and seam sealer on the inside and outside



Next I painted the wheel wells with bed liner. Masked everything up- left the struts in place and painted around them. Came out great. Unfortunately, the OEM fender liners hit my new wheel well patch, which was something I totally forgot to test fit earlier on. I'll either modify them or make custom liners in the future- for the short term I'll run no liners.



And finally got the wheels back on the car. To answer Ziggy from earlier, the rear wheels are 19x9.5 ET20, and I'm currently using a 10mm spacer. Not a great setup- I'm only running these wheels right now because I got them for cheap. Regardless, fitment against the fender is quite good.



Fitment is pretty great. I don't have the bumper and skirts back on just yet but the fenders line up with the wheels and match the front of the car very well. Still want to work on the fender lips a bit more, as you can see it's not perfectly even due to the fender rolling.



Took just under 2 weeks to do everything while working full time. At this point I could take it to a body shop to do the final filler/ paintwork, but I think I'm going to do that myself as well.

[ShocknAwe]

Love it! Paid for my set today.

[Burnout]

Originally Posted by Jbam9

Unfortunately, the OEM fender liners hit my new wheel well patch, which was something I totally forgot to test fit earlier on. I'll either modify them or make custom liners in the future- for the short term I'll run no liners.

First off the workmanship and crafting looks top notch, amazing job!!

What region of the inner wheel well patch would need a different profile to allow the liners to fit? Does it need to be more set inwards?

[fe1rx]

Really fantastic and inspirational work Jbam9 . Thanks for sharing.

Regarding the missing studs, if you haven't resolved them yet, you might want to consider the approach I took on my Cayman to replace a few of the underbody attaching studs that had broken. The attached pictures should be clear, but I used Porsche's p/n 9A7 007 517 00 4.8 x 19 tapping screw as a starting point, silver brazed to a stainless washer, and then adhesive bonded to the vehicle.

The adhesive I used is intended for applications like this. Those studs are still standing 5 years on.